“Office” mashups and mixes: At least it isn't fan fiction

On first glance, the characters of Pam and Jim on "The Office" seem like little more than the new Niles and Daphne — an on-again, off-again romance to string along viewers of an NBC sitcom until they're out of the 18-49 demo.

But "Frasier" didn't have YouTube. Go there, or any other site where people post homemade videos, and you'll find scores of musical mashups posted by diehard "Jammers" (Jim + Pam ... get it?). Many are clip reels of the "Office" mates making goo-goo eyes at each other, or looking off in the distance, thinking about unrequited love, while a power ballad like "Shelter" or "Far Away" pounds away.

The tributes to "The Office" don't end there. A brilliant mashup set to Nelly's "It's Getting Hot in Here" takes dozens of scenes, many of them of people taking off articles of clothing, and edits them into a fast-paced party video that could play on MTV. (Speaking of taking off clothes, Jenna Fischer has got to be the unlikeliest pinup girl since the Ladies of Rylstone.)

I've watched YouTube classics that pay tribute to "Heroes" (one parody, featuring stand-ins doing stupid human tricks, is called "Zeroes"). If I had a theory as to why these tributes to NBC-based fare, it's because the bar was set high by the network's own amazing promos, like the headbanger salute to "Office" nitwit Dwight Schrute and the hilarious tribute to that overused guy punchline, "That's what she said."

But being the most mashed-up network on TV hasn't helped NBC off the internets. The Peacock is expected to finish fourth in prime time for the third year in a row.